Skyscrapers
by lalaclairi
Summary: Her whole life she's been lying, and that's just like acting but you're not on a stage or in front of a camera - trina at twenty-three. a dash of trina/robbie.


She's wearing her new dark red two-piece bikini; her '70s styled sunglasses are hanging off her ahh-mazing face in that way she's been practicing in the mirror; she has that perfect, sexy smirk; her hips are swinging _justright_; and her new lotion has her skin practically _glowing._

All eyes are on her, for a good reason, finally, and it's perfect! (If she ignores that the only reason she's here is because Tori's famous and _ohGodohGodshe'snothowcanthisbe? _and she's pretty much one of the most hated people in America because of her affair with Erin Rotsy, NBA star, and the viral video of her punching his wife, who's first single suddenly went up the charts after the incident.)

She slowly sits down in a lounge chair by the pool, pushing her sunglasses up so they won't fall of, and lays down, getting comfortable.

She takes out the new book Tori had given her that was supposed to be just _so _amazing, reading the first sentence before there were sweaty hands over her glasses (ew) and someone with incredibly warm breath giggling in a ear - she knew it was a guy, so this didn't make her any more attracted. And she's Trina freaking Vega! She's attracted to almost any guy that breathes.

"Guess who it is?" The little creep whispers and ew, again she can feel his chest against her back and all of the sudden, her karate skills kick in and she's threw him to the ground.

With this jerky movement her glasses have fallen off her face and Tori's book is...somewhere. She searches his face, trying to figure out who is; she definitely knows him. But where?

And then, she thinks Hollywood Arts and remembers being stuck in Beck's RV and stabbing Robbie with a big fork and when the night before she graduated she and Jade had sneaked into Robbie's house and killed Rex. (And also, she remembers thinking Robbie was less of a nerd and how his dorkyness was kind of cute but she had quickly pushed thoughts like that away. And that's what she does now, too, five years later.)

He still has glasses, but there slightly cooler ones, and less Harry Potter-y. There's a little muscle, not much, but still way more than he had back in the old days - and, she notes with a smile, there's no puppet hanging on his arm making annoying comments.

"Oh. Robbie. What a surprise," she says in her usual snobby sounding voice. "Tori invited you too?"

"U-uh, yeah. I think I broke something," he wheezes, stumbling up from the ground and clutching his stomach.

She laughs. "You shouldn't have snuck up on me, duh!" And with a flip of her hair, she's strutting away and Robbie knows there meeting again.

.

"You're still friends with that weird kid?" She asks Tori, who's also fixing her make-up in the ladies' room.

Tori was just as skinny as ever (and pretty and smart and just the right amount of sassy and talented (all the things she'll never be) and oh she loves her but she hates her) but had more curves now, and her eyes had that special glow from being in love. Her baby sister was only twenty-two, but she'd already been divorced and married again - to the same person, actually. That stupid Danny kid, she thinks. Meh. She was drunk at the weeding anyway and was in the middle of her affair with Erin and thinking of how to avoid the press, his wife.

"Robbie's gotten less weirder," Tori replies, a small smile itching to be shown on her lips and that's another thing she hates, how she has these perfect smiles and always look like she's posing for a picture, even when she's woken up or had martial arts training for a movie.

"Obviously you think he's weird because I said you're still friends with that weird kid and you instantly knew who I was talking about," she says in about three seconds, without taking a breath and she thinks that's more proof she's a good actress, how fast she can talk, and how good she is at lying, which is just acting but you're not on a stage or being filmed on camera.

Tori laughs, that long, wonderful laugh that leaves everyone in her presence feel good and think _wow, Tori Vega is so beautiful._

(It's not fair.)

But then that laughter fades and she gets this serious look and she feels like running, because that's what she's always doing lately to get out of bad situations. (She couldn't run away fast enough from Erin's wife fast enough, though.)

One thing she quickly learned when she went to college for those seven-and-a-half months and she saw Tori's face on the cover of a magazine? Mommy and Daddy wouldn't be there to get rid of all her problems and buy her pretty clothes and jewellery and tuck her in and kiss her goodnight anymore.

No, she'd have to do this all on her own. Earn it. And then she vaguely remembers meeting this football player in this club (she was wasted) and him getting rid of all her problems and buying her nice things, like jewellery and pizza actually from Italy and kissing her goodnight, taking her Daddy to the playoffs and him spinning her around ("You've never made me so happy before!").

And she doesn't like to remember that last week, when his girlfriend of seven years called and told her to back off or else her and "her girls" were gonna fly up to L.A. and teach her not to mess with someone's boyfriend, and he told her never to call her again and her it was all over U.S. Weekly, and the disappointed look her family gave her when they found out.

Eventually she decided she didn't care about what anyone had to say. She had to survive somehow, and there was no way _the _Trina Vega was doing a regular 9-to-5 job. These days, you could usually find her at some sporting event or next to Tori at a Hollywood party, looking like a hooker while Tori looked as elegant as maybe Diana Ross or Marilyn Monroe (they were her heroes first, before Tori decided she wanted to be famous, and she was born to perform, and she was gonna make it shine. That was a stupid song anyway, and she's glad her tongue got all swollen and she couldn't sing it and wear a cute sparkly dress and have everyone cheering for her- '_Tri-na...Tri-na...Tri-na...you rock! you're so beautiful...Tri-na...Tri-na...'_

She snaps out of her thoughts when she sees Tori lips have stopped moving and she's waiting for a response.

"Well, Trina? What do you say? Do you think you'd give Robbie a chance?"

Her lips start curling in disgust and she feels like screaming or vomiting and her too long, Catwoman-like fingernails are digging into her palm. She hopes she draws blood. "Baby sister, I can find a man on my own. In fact, there's a millionaire out there who was staring at my butt when I bent over in front of him and pretended to look for my contacts! I don't want your creepy, nerdy little friend around me! Now if you excuse me, I shall be chatting it up with him. And I probably won't come back tonight."

Tori's mouth drops open and her nervous, hurt voice stops her. But only for a second.

"He's marr-" and then she's out the door, her hips swinging just the right way, her lips looking full and pleasekissme and she has that evil smirk on her face again, her dyed jet black hair falling in her eyes and he puts down his drink. Wipes the muffin crumbs from his mouth. As she walks by, she hears him tell his wife he'll be right back, the producer's here and she's in the men's bathroom and so is he and she tells him her birthstone, her ring size and then she's kissing him - she loves being in control. It's thrilling, it makes her heart thump, and energy oozes out of her long fingernails, making her feel like she can climb mountains in her favorite seven-inch thousand dollar heels.

(_Oh_ she loves this.)

.

She gets this beautiful necklace with her birthstone on it and she kisses him on the cheek, her lipstick staining it and he quickly wipes it off. She blushes and thinks 'i should know this' and really she should, she's been in this situation about three or four times already. At least she remembered not to wear perfume.

He's planned it out perfectly - considering the fact that he's like twenty years older than her, he tells everyone his niece Trina is visiting the set today (he's directing a new movie, set in the 1920s and she wishes and wishes he'll ask her to be in it, or at least make a cameo but he doesn't and oh, it stings) and shows them a picture, so when she shows up in a itsy-bitsy dress and high heels, they let her in and he hugs her (she yells 'uncle!' and thinks God, seriously, I really am a actress and wishes someone would realize) and then when they have break they go to his dressing room, make out, and then he's taking out the necklace and whispering soft words that don't make any sense at all.

She pulls her hair away from her neck and he snaps the piece of jewellery on, his soft and warm (not sweaty and clammy, thankyouverymuch) fingers brushing her neck and she shivers. She swears she can feel him smirking.

"You're gorgeous," he compliments, lacing their fingers together and kissing her shoulder. "There's this great hotel that we can do, and they have free meals."

"Sounds amazing," she mumbles, fluttering her eyebrows and it feels like she's been rehearsing this particular scene far too long. Maybe she should flip to the next page.

Or not.

"Everyone, back on set!" They hear someone yell, and then she's hiding the necklace in her bra (she keeps everything in there - money, keys, credit cards. No one really excepts all that in there and it's big enough, anyway) and she's his niece, Trina and he's her Uncle Geoffrey and all she can really think is whatever.

.

One day she gets her first real acting job, and it's on Geoffrey's new movie and she just has one line - 'Your coffee's here, sir' - but it's so much more than that and Tori squeals and she practices the line over and over again to it sounds stupid and fake, like she is, and how everything she says ends up sounding. The cast cringes (but it's just one stinkin' line! let me have this one, pretty please!) but Geoffrey smiles and they hold hands inside his jacket and no one sees and she's still his niece and he's still her uncle and her whole life is just one big movie.

If there was to be a movie about her life, Vanessa Hudgens she should _so_ play her. No Tori. But the best person to play it would be her, of course!

.

Robbie tracks her down in club Sun and she's with that Geoffrey guy (the millionaire, he thinks bitterly) and she rolls her eyes at him and tells him to roll over and die or else she'll stab him with a fork but he stands right there, staring at her but she continues dancing (Trina Vega's always dancing) until Geoff, she calls him in this annoying British accent, says he's uncomfortable and they walk away.

He watches them and watches and then she's going into the bathroom and he follows her and she beats him up, Geoff threatens to call the cops, and he's out running, knowing one day he'll see her again. This isn't the end. It's to abrupt. They will talk, and she will let him love her even though he's not rich and never became famous like Tori or Andre or got a nice, normal, good-paying job like Beck or has a good life and a wonderful husband like Jade or is just happy with everything life throws at him like Cat.

(And deep down inside, he knows he'll never be good enough for Trina, whose standards are as tall as skyscrapers and has as many layers as a rainbow.)

.

Geoffrey files for divorce on their one year anniversary.

He runs into her house and spins her around, crying into the new silk, designer shirt he bought her and singing 'freedom' and saying 'they'll finally be together' and then he's on the knees, holding up a ring.

She feels the salad she just had rising up her throat and she's heaving and maybe she'll have an asthma attack, she hasn't had one of those in a long time and he's trying to get her to calm down-

But when his arms go around her, her head clears and she feels like she's shedding another chapter of her never-ending life. She pushes the arm off and she's running, running to who knows where and eventually she finds herself at Cat's house.

The girl rubs comforting circles on her back, gives her gingerbread cookies with pink frosting on them, and braids her hair and lets her wear some pajamas and sleep in her comfy, princess-like bed and Cat's mother just smiles and says, "If you really loved him, it's probably gonna take a long time to get better. If he was The One but you two wouldn't let fate take care of all the problems, you'll never be okay again. But if it's just a puppy love or something totally different, it'll get okay. Doesn't feel like it, I know, but it will."

And then she starts talking about anime and for some weird reason she feels at home with these ditzy but wise and loving people.

.

He sees her again at Tori's housewarming party for her and Danny's new house (which she bought all by herself, of course) and it's like a repeat of what happened a little bit over a year ago.

Her hips are swinging, her enchanting brown eyes are covered by sunglasses, but they're bigger and she's wearing the same bathing suit, her favorite pair of heels, and the necklace Geoffrey bought for her. The men (and some of the woman) are staring again and this time he's not going to let her go without closure.

"Trina, I-" But before he can finish his sentence, she's kissing him and it's like a fairytale and he sounds so much like a girl, but he can't help it, and then she's strutting away from him.

His heart breaks in two.

(And he knows this isn't fair.)


End file.
